PORTERDALE, Ga. –  Michael Patterson will become the new mayor of Porterdale following his election win this past Tuesday.

“I feel very honored and humbled by the opportunity to serve the people of Porterdale,” Patterson said. 

The current Porterdale city councilman won in a contested race against his opponent Kay Piper, 142-85.

In an interview with The Covington News, Patterson seemed eager about making an impact within his first 60 days in office.

“The first thing I want to do is build up our communications. Our communications are vital to the success of our city,” Patterson said. “I want to begin hosting regularly scheduled staff meetings which would consist of our department heads and our city council staff.”

The mayor-elect also wants to reestablish vital committees that are prevalent in other cities, such as the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) and the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC). Patterson says that he also wants to kick-start the efforts on building a new website as well as building a social media presence for the city. He also plans to get the citizens more involved by hosting a town hall event.

But the biggest thing that Patterson is focusing on is completing the “master plan” of Porterdale and executing on the city’s vision.

“I believe in making our vision visible, and we do that through a master plan,” Patterson said.

Building this “master plan” would consist of meeting with citizens and stakeholders to build the best future for Porterdale, according to Patterson. Also in this “master plan” would be the creation of new projects. Patterson states that one of those potential projects would be the creation of a new city hall.

Patterson also plans to use his experience serving as a current city council member to his advantage, stating that “he’s learned a lot.” He aspires to use his experiences with finances to continue to build back the trust of the citizens.

“They [the council] asked me to serve during a time where the city was upside down in its finances. We needed to start operating in the black and get out of the red,” Patterson said. “We have to be accountable and transparent in our workings. I wanted to build back the trust for our city leadership and government.”

In a closing comment, Patterson thanked his supporters.

“Thank you. I’m humbled by their [the voters’] vote of confidence and by this opportunity to lead our town into the bright and prosperous future.”

Patterson will take the place of outgoing mayor Arline Chapman, who did not seek re-election.